


Aten

by Morpheus626



Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25046815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: More random Ahk fic. I gave him a bf (again, because I can’t help myself, if I can’t find anyone he’s gonna at least) and we get nsfw so hold on to ur hats folks. A reminder that in my canon, Ahk is 21 (I know the movie says he’s younger but gosh darn it I just don’t believe that. He does not look or act that young to me okay. I remember being as young as they claim he is, he would need to act much sillier/stupider to be that young, but I digress. Here in Lee’s fanon land, he’s 21.)Interspersed some themes from the opera Akhnaten, and talk about it in the fic, hence the title (the name for the sun disk deity/sort of technically an aspect of Ra but whatever that’s a lot of history to sum up right here worshipped by the pharaoh Akhnaten.)
Relationships: Ahkmenrah (Night at the Museum)/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. 1

He rose at the usual hour, expecting the soft lights of his exhibit, always on thanks to Larry.

It was pitch black, except for the soft glow of the emergency lights out in the hall. As he fumbled his way through the rest of the museum, grateful for the few emergency lights. He expected the exhibit spaces would be empty, and everyone else would be as confused as he was. 

But everyone was in their usual exhibits, not a sign of life in them. Nothing woke them, not any of his shouting or poking or prodding. 

“If this a joke, then know that I do not like it!” Ahkmenrah shouted to the apparently empty museum. 

It was eerie as he walked quickly from one hall to the next, no sound but the swish of his cloak and the padding of his sandals on the tile floor. 

Finally, he heard Larry’s voice, calling out for someone, anyone to answer.

“Where have you been?” he scolded as he ran to the main hall, where Larry was stood near the front desk, looking as puzzled as could be. 

“I slept through my alarm, my bad,” Larry replied. “Is this uhh…a prank or did I piss everyone off, or…” 

“I don’t know. I’ve tried waking everyone, at every exhibit I’ve gone by, and nothing has worked. If this is a prank, they are very dedicated to it,” Ahkmenrah replied. 

Without warning, Larry screamed, as loud as he could.

Ahkmenrah stared at him, wincing at the sound. “What on earth was that for?” 

Larry shrugged. “Thought it might rouse somebody. But I don’t think anyone’s awake. Which is weird, because then how are you…” 

“I don’t know. Something’s wrong,” he replied. 

They were of one mind then, down the halls and back to Ahkmenrah’s exhibit to check on the tablet. 

“Ah,” Ahkmenrah sighed. “Look. One of the panels is wedged, someone must have tried to turn it. You think it being this high up would mean no one would try and touch it.” 

He carefully tried to moved the panel back, but it was stuck tight. “I’ll need tools to move it without damaging it. The restoration expert’s tools are what i’ll need, if you can get them.” 

Larry winced. “He’s at a set of conferences, for the next two weeks. Took his things with him too. I have that memo somewhere; he said in it just to leave things in need of repair in his office.” 

“With all due respect to him, I’d rather repair this on my own once he’s back, and you can borrow his tools for me at night,” Ahkmenrah said as gently as he could. He knew that the restorer meant well, but he still would rather not have him touch the tablet if he could help it. 

“So…that one being stuck must have changed the settings or whatever on this, right?” 

Ahkmenrah nodded. “Apparently. With it moved, the magic only awakens me, not everyone else.” 

They stood there awkwardly for a moment as Ahkmenrah set the tablet back in its place. 

“Good night, I suppose,” he finally said, and waited for Larry to go.

“Oh. I mean…okay. If you want me to go, I can. But just because everyone else is…asleep, we could say, doesn’t mean you have to stay in here alone. Unless you want to be alone, of course, then I’ll…go sit at the front desk and just…I don’t know, honestly,” Larry said with a shrug. “If you’d want to hang out, come help me keep an eye on things, I’d certainly welcome the company though.” 

“That would be nice,” Ahkmenrah admitted. He’d figured Larry might not want him tagging around after him like a puppy dog, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear otherwise. 

“C’mon then! We’ll talk, hang out, I’ve got snacks and your other clothes in my locker, if you want them,” Larry said, leading the way out of the exhibit. 

With the lights still off, it was eerie walking about, the museum feeling almost too bit. Larry seemed to feel the same, if the nervous chewing of his lip was anything to go by.

“So. Must have been scary, waking up in here all alone like this,” Larry said as they walked to the employee lounge. “Not that you couldn’t handle being alone in here, I mean, I wasn’t implying-” 

“Actually, that was my worst nightmare come true,” Ahkmenrah interrupted. “I was so glad to hear your voice, to not be alone in here anymore. If I had no other option but to be alone…I suppose I’d have simply stayed in my exhibit area.” 

“Well, I promise I will be on time every day for the next two weeks, so no more waking up alone,” Larry replied with a smile. “After you change, should we go put some music on the PA system? Too quiet in here without something on, or people in here.” 

“I’d like that. You have something in mind?” 

“An opera. I figure if there’s anyone who’ll listen to it with me, it’ll be you,” Larry said.

“Opera? I didn’t expect you to be that sort of man,” Ahkmenrah said. 

Larry shrugged. “Not my normal thing, but I like this one. About a pharaoh, actually, by Philip-” 

“Glass,” Ahkmenrah finished. “I know the opera, and I do like it. You go put it on, I’ll join you in a moment.” 

He changed quickly as Larry went to the main desk. It was turning out better than expected, spending time with just Larry. Who knew how else he might surprise him. 

He went to the main desk, and found the conversation flowed easily now while the opera played, echoing through the halls. About the opera (both of them wished to see it performed live) to the museum, to the city itself. 

“I know you’d love to get out and see more of it,” Larry said. “I want to make that happen more, but the others-” 

“I understand,” Ahkmenrah stopped him with a raise of his hand. “Not all of them can go out and pass on the streets in modern clothes, and they get understandably jealous about it. Any night you can offer me is a gift; I treasure them all.” 

Larry nodded. “Y’know though, I could bring someone to meet you, Ahk. About your age, a regular here, stays so late I’ve had to ask him to go so he doesn’t see all of you wake up! But he’s a great kid, studying to work in Egyptology. He claims he only comes to your exhibit every other week for that research but-” 

Larry laughed. “You’d love him. He asks about you all the time. ‘What do you think he was like, what did he look like, surely Ahkmenrah must have been wonderful.’ I have to bite my tongue not to tell him he could just meet you and see. But now…maybe I could.” 

“You think he could keep it a secret? About me…” Ahkmenrah asked. 

“I do,” Larry replied. “Here, let me show you him.” 

He pulled out his phone, and showed a picture to Ahkmenrah. “There’s me, of course, your sarcophagus in the background, and that’s Tristan.” 

His breath caught in his throat. He was cute, reddish-blondish hair and a sweet smile, and soft brown eyes anyone could get lost in. And for a moment, lost he was. 

“Ahk? You good?” Larry’s chuckle brought him back.

“Yes, of course, um-” he stuttered. “He looks to be a very-” 

“Cute?” 

“I…I mean I’ve never said-” 

“I know,” Larry said, and smiled. “But you just stopped breathing for a good minute, and you’re blushing red as a tomato. Kinda gave yourself away, buddy. And don’t worry, half the time he can’t stop talking about how beautiful he presumes you were. Especially after his last break up, with some guy named Jeremy. He was in here every day for a week straight, in your exhibit, crying or trying not to cry. Said being near you and your exhibit made him feel better.” 

His heart was beating entirely too fast to be reasonable, and he scolded himself. “The poor thing. Was it recent?” 

“Nah. Good year back now. Why? Are you wanting this first meeting to be a-” 

“Date? That would be entirely too forward of me to ask for that,” Ahk said, then bit his tongue. “I mean, unless he’d…I don’t know, I-” 

“Awww,” Larry said softly. “Tell you what. I’ll see if he can come with me tomorrow night. Let him in on this, that it has to stay a secret, or he can’t come. Not that anyone would believe him if he told anyone but, still. And you two can meet, and if sparks fly…well, there’s the couch in the lounge…” 

“Larry!” he said sharply, but his mind lingered at the thought. Would it be much too much on a first meeting? Probably, but he couldn’t help but think of it.

“I’m just saying,” Larry laughed. “Whatever happens, you two have that space to sit and talk or…anything else you can think up.” 

He could only nod, as he thought of Tristan’s face, and the glimpse of Tristan’s hands, lovely hands, that had been in the picture Larry had shown him. 

Blessedly, Larry let the conversation drift to the snacks he’d brought with him for the night, and they ate and talked of other unimportant things for the rest of the night. 

“Time to pack it in,” Larry said as he cleaned the desk. “You want me to walk you back?” 

“I’ll be alright. I’ll go change and head in. Thank you for tonight Larry, for everything.” 

He left quickly then, as he thought of him again, and did so all the way through changing and settling back into his sarcophagus. Trying to memorize the cute face in the picture, so it was the last thing on his mind before the morning sun crested. 

****

The next night, he was up and out of his sarcophagus before Larry would arrive. Normally, he’d wait, but he couldn’t tonight. He had a good impression to make, after all. 

Even with his careful dressing and primping before he went to the main desk, it was still a short wait until he finally heard Larry’s voice, and a new voice, coming down the hall. 

“I can keep a secret,” the new voice said, deep but not too deep. Like a ray of afternoon sunshine, Ahk thought. Strong enough to warm one, but soft enough to fall asleep under. “I just…man, if this is real. Wow. Should I bow, or kneel when I see him?” 

“Just act normal,” Larry laughed. “Yes, he’s royalty, but he’s very…chill. And excited to meet you too.” 

Larry smiled as they approached the desk. “And there he is! Ahk, Tristan. Tristan, Ahk.” 

He left the desk to approach them, and immediately Tristan fell to one knee. 

“Oh no, you don’t have to,” Ahk said, and rushed over to pull him back up. “I mean, that is sweet of you. But it’s alright. Here.” 

He took off his crown, and handed it to Larry before ruffling a hand through his curls. “Better? The crown is…imposing. And a bit heavy.” 

Tristan was bright red, and suddenly grabbed his hand and kissed it. “You’re still a pharaoh though.” 

“True, but not in this time. I’m just…me,” he replied, even as his heart beat at the contact of Tristan’s lips to his skin. 

“I’m gonna go about things,” Larry said. “You two head on to the lounge. I’ll put this away for you, okay Ahk?” 

He nodded, but his eyes never left Tristan’s.

“…okay then,” Larry said. “You kids have fun.” 

As Larry walked away, Ahk led Tristan to the lounge.

“You need not walk behind me,” he said as they went, noticing Tristan apparently working to stay just behind him. 

“But you’re-” 

“Ahk. A new friend, who’d love to have you walk beside him,” he interrupted softly, and gestured for Tristan to come forward. 

He could have screeched with joy as Tristan trotted up to be beside him. It was wonderful and sweet and made even better when they reached the couch and, thanks to how small it was, ended up as close as could be.

They were silent for a moment, then Tristan giggled. 

“Gosh. You’re him! You’re more beautiful than I expected.” 

Immediately, Tristan blushed again, and it was Ahk’s turn to giggle. 

“Larry showed me a picture of you, last night. But you’re even more beautiful in person.” 

“Oh, gosh I’m nothing compared to you though,” Tristan stuttered.

“You shouldn’t say that,” Ahk replied, and tucked a stray piece of Tristan’s hair behind his ear. It wasn’t horribly long, just a bit near the ears, and that those pieces kept popping forward was utterly adorable. “You’re handsome. Even your name is beautiful.” 

“I’ve always hated it,” Tristan sighed. “It literally means ‘sad’, or at least one translation of it does.” 

“That may be, but you shine brighter than the meaning of the name. We could give you a nickname, if you’d want something happier.” 

“That would be…so cool!” Tristan said. “I mean, my mom calls me Stan, but I don’t like that either.” 

Ahk bit back a frown. This man was certainly not a ‘Stan.’ “You remind me of the sunlight. The whole museum seems brighter with you in it. I could call you Aten.” 

He didn’t think Tristan could blush any deeper, but he did. “But that’s…a deity, I mean at least he’s associated with the sun and Ra, and I am not-” 

“A god? No, but if dying and living again has taught me anything, it is that none of us are. But we may bear the similarities of them, as you bear the brightness and warmth of the sun. If you would rather I not call you that-” 

“No, you can, I mean…it makes me feel special. And I’m nothing special, but it’s…it’s nice to feel special,” Tristan, his Aten, interrupted gently. 

This was too forward, Ahk knew it was, but Aten seemed to feel the same. And there was no harm in addressing the elephant in the room. 

“I want to get to know you better. But, we both seem rather distracted by the…shall we say physical side of things.” 

Aten, and though Tristan was a beautiful name, he did seem more an Aten the more Ahk used it, even in his head, nodded. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you since I got here. I thought the kiss on the hand would calm me down, because I mean, c’mon, we’re just meeting and I am not normally that sort of guy, but this has been just…magnetic and I want to get to know you too, but if you feel the same and it would be easier to talk if we get things out of our system, and-” 

Ahk softly grabbed Aten’s face in his hands. “Could you just kiss me?” 

And there was the afternoon sun again, in Aten’s lips and hands and hips as he pulled him close and back with him onto the couch. He heard Larry’s footsteps and the closing of the lounge door, but paid it no mind. 

It was frenzied for all of a moment, before Aten stopped and hissed. “Your clothes…I can’t imagine trying to restore them, I should be careful.” 

“Hold on,” Ahk said, and carefully moved from under him. Without a second thought, he pulled his sweatshirt and sweats from Larry’s locker, and changed. 

It was only after he was done changing, his usual garb safely folded and set on the table in the lounge that he realized he had accidentally stepped way over the line of forward, though Aten’s face was a happy one. 

“Should I have just left them off?” he asked with a smile as he returned to his spot beneath Aten. 

“I…I’ve just never seen you…sweats, it’s different, not bad just…” Aten’s head dropped to Ahk’s shoulder, and he pulled him close again, running his hands over Aten’s back. 

“Not very regal, but comfortable,” he said. “And on the nights Larry lets me out to explore, I have to blend in, so…these.” 

Aten seemed stuck, his head lifted again, but those gorgeous brown eyes simply glued to his. 

“Come. Kiss me again. We’ll talk later tonight, or tomorrow, if tonight proves too busy,” he smiled, and traced Aten’s lips with one of his fingers before pulling him gently down by the chin for another kiss. 

Logically, he knew the night would have to end, but he didn’t want it to. It was too good, all of this. Aten warm in his arms, stripping him of his sweatshirt before pulling off his own shirt, their hips grinding as they kissed. He could not say all what he would do just to have Aten’s hands stay on him as they were now, moving to every bit of bare skin they could reach, toying with the waistband of his sweatpants, but he knew it was a great deal. 

An alarm beeped on Aten’s watch, and he broke their kiss to look at it. “Fuck. We have half an hour left. Larry said the sun-” 

“I know,” Ahk replied. “A half hour is plenty of time to end this the way I think we’d both like it to.” 

It wasn’t enough time to do everything he might have been hoping for, but it was enough time to keep kissing Aten, to have him leave marks on his neck that he prayed would not fade by the time he awoke the next night, even after his body changed for the morning. Enough time to moan loudly enough at the increased pace of it all, the friction of their hard cocks against each other, kept apart only by the fabric of Ahk’s sweatpants and Aten’s boxer briefs (he’d barely been able to focus enough to undo the button and zipper of Aten’s jeans, but he was so glad he had.) Enough time to leave a mark of his own, a gentle nip at Aten’s neck that made him whimper and whine so loudly he knew Larry must have heard it. But he didn’t care, had only one thing on his mind. 

Just before the second alarm on Aten’s watch beeped, he let himself go, moaning, his cum hitting his stomach and Aten’s as the waistband on his sweatpants had shifted. Aten followed a moment later, kissing him so hard as he came that he saw stars. 

As they lay there, still wrapped in each other, there was a knock on the door.

“Um. I hate to break up the…well. But we’ve got three minutes, Ahk, so-” 

Aten kissed him one last time, then pulled himself up and off the couch. “Come on. I’ll help clean you up before we dress you, let me get-” 

“Leave it,” Ahk said softly. “It won’t matter anyways, after the sun rises. I want it on me for now. A reminder.” 

Aten kissed him again, but Larry’s insistent knocking interrupted it. 

“Tomorrow night?” Ahk asked softly as he changed. 

“Definitely,” Aten replied with a grin. “Maybe we can even talk tomorrow.” 

“Of course.” 

“And maybe, keep the door shut again…I mean, in case we need a break, from talking, or…that sounds so bad, probably, but…” 

Ahk smiled, and dashed from the door to him to kiss him deeply again. “Not bad at all. We can do both. Till tomorrow night.” 

He had to run to his exhibit, and was barely in his sarcophagus when the heavy feeling of death came over him again. 

But it had been worth it, so worth it. He couldn’t wait for the next night.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again folks! Cute Ahk and his cute bf bein’ sweet and gettin’ nsfw again. This part is pretty short (because it was almost 2 A.M. when I first wrote this, and I hit the need to sleep lol.)

The third night, he raced out of his sarcophagus, and paced the spot near the front desk, already in his sweatshirt and sweatpants, until Larry and Aten rounded the corner. They were on time, but he was excited. 

He gave a quick wave to Larry before they dashed off to the lounge, to which Larry only smiled and shook his head. 

In the lounge they again settled on the couch, and though his intent had been to ask Aten about his studies, it was hard to do that when Aten took his breath away with a kiss. 

“Sorry,” he blushed. “Just missed you. Which is silly, we just saw each other last night. I’m so bad at this stuff.” 

“Not at all. I missed you too,” Ahk sighed. He didn’t want to say it, but he’d dreamed of Aten in the odd death/sleep that captured him in the morning. Exactly what he’d dreamed was maybe a bit too much to share right at that moment though. 

He moved as close as he could to Aten, and gestured to his book bag that had been left by the door of the lounge. “Your homework?” 

“Oh, kinda. I mean, my latest paper is already written, I’ve just been poring over it. I never know when to let them just be, ya know? When to stop editing.” 

“I could read it, if you’d like,” Ahk said. 

“Really? If you want, but you’ll have to ignore me. I get all stupid anxious watching people read my stuff, even the academic stuff.” 

“Go get it,” Ahk instructed. “I’ll keep you distracted, so you won’t have time to feel anxious.” 

Aten retrieved it from his bag, and chuckled. “And how are you going to do that?” 

“Go into Larry’s locker. Second shelf, there’s a bag. Has all the things in it I’ve bought on the nights he’s let me out. He doesn’t look at any of it, or so I presume, because he’s never mentioned the thing I’m going to ask you to grab. I think you’ll know it when you see it.” 

He watched Aten rifle through the bag, then blush. “Lube? But Larry said you don’t…” 

“Have anyone, am single? Well, I don’t know that I really am right this minute, and I’ll need that to distract you.” 

Aten tossed it to him, and smiled as he sat back down beside him on the couch. “…not single anymore, huh?” 

“I don’t know what we call this, two days in. But I know if any other man came up to me right now, even with the wildest fantasy to offer me, I would turn him down. Because I want to focus on you, and getting to know you, and being with you.” 

“Me too. I mean, I feel the same, I-” Aten stuttered. “This just feel so surreal to me.” 

“It is a bit,” Ahk admitted as he set the lube on the coffee table in front of them beside Aten’s paper, then reach over to undo Aten’s belt and jeans. “You can’t exactly take me home to meet your parents, and whatever this is, might be…I can’t promise it will be like anything normal. Like a relationship you would have with someone mortal. But if you want it, me…just know that I want it, and you.” 

Aten kissed him, a hand gentle on the back of his neck. 

“Is that a yes?” he smiled as they parted. 

Aten nodded. 

“Good. Now, you sit back, I’ll read and distract you,” Ahk continued. He popped open the lube, and slicked some of it onto Aten’s already half-hard cock. “Does that always happen when you get anxious?” 

Aten giggled, and it was a beautiful sound to hear.

“Stay that relaxed, and let me focus on this now. You just sit back.” 

It was adorable, and he struggled to focus on the paper (interesting and well-written as it was) as Aten tried and failed to bite back moans as Ahk’s hand worked his cock, teasing the head of it, doing everything he could think of to not only make Aten be as loud as possible (he was starting to find he had a strange love for it, the idea that anyone who passed might hear them, even if there was no one aside from Larry who was certainly avoiding their area to hear it) but to honestly keep him from feeling any anxiety over his paper being read by someone else. 

He had to stop for a moment to turn to another page of the paper, and Aten whined.

“What was that?” Ahk laughed. 

“Please don’t stop.” 

“Sorry, I was focused on reading this next bit,” he said, his hand just near Aten’s cock. “What did you say?” 

“Ahk, please, I’m begging you.” 

“Beg one more time,” he said, and set the paper down on the coffee table as he turned to Aten. 

“Please.” 

He moved off the couch to kneel in front of Aten, and took his cock in his mouth. 

The shout that earned him left him so happy he was sure he was glowing with it as he took Aten’s cock deep. He had done this maybe one or twice before in the past, and it had been a good (thousand and then some) years, but apparently he was doing it well enough. 

It didn’t take much longer than that, of him sucking and licking and doing everything he could to make Aten squirm and moan and whine gorgeously under his touch, before Aten tried to push him away. 

Instead, he took Aten’s cock in his mouth again as Aten came. The familiarity of the sensation from the few encounters in his past made it a welcome moment, and he moaned around Aten’s cock as he finished. 

“You look shocked,” he finally said as he rested his head on Aten’s thigh, pressing a kiss to it through his jeans. 

“I didn’t figure you would…I mean,” Aten tried as he breathed heavily and put himself away, doing up his jeans and belt. 

“I am from a time that is ancient now, but I am not stuck in that time, or any expectations from it. I am only myself, with knowledge and wanting and ways befitting the modern world. I have learned and changed and evolved as a result. And I like sucking your cock.” 

There was a moment of silence before Aten laughed, and motioned him back onto the couch. “I shouldn’t have presumed anything. That’s on me. I have to try not to do that anymore. After all, it isn’t like I only have research to go by to know who you are. I have you, here, and I can and should just ask you.” 

“Exactly,” Ahk replied. 

“So…while you read the rest of it, can I return the favor?” he asked, and gestured to Ahk’s lap. 

“I can’t promise how well I’ll be able to focus on the paper, but if you’d like to, I certainly can’t say no,” Ahk replied, and laid back, the paper in his hand, shifting his hips so Aten could pull down his sweats. 

He couldn’t stop the gasp that came as soon as he felt Aten’s tongue on his cock, and any focus he had on the paper was gone in a minute. 

He let it drop to the coffee table, and instead focused on keeping his hands out of Aten’s hair, that beautiful reddish-brown softness, as his hips jerked in time with Aten’s mouth. 

One of Aten’s hands reached for his, and pulled it to his head, and then he could focus on nothing at all as he let his fingers twist in Aten’s hair. He was being loud, too loud as he sighed and moaned, muttering Aten’s name in between them, but he simply didn’t care. 

He shuddered as he came, Aten’s mouth still around his cock, unable to stop himself even as he heard the door open. 

It shut again with a slam, and a muffled “Oh god! So sorry!” from Larry. 

Aten gave his cock one last lick from the bottom to the head, making him shiver, before they both broke into giggles. 

“We should lock that next time, maybe,” Ahk said. “Poor Larry.” 

“He’ll live,” Aten said. “but yeah, not a bad idea. Did he knock? If he did, I didn’t hear it.” 

“He probably did,” Ahk said. “But I didn’t hear it either. Wasn’t really focused listening for that, or anything else, if I’m honest. You’re amazing.” 

“So are you,” Aten said as he carefully moved up Ahk’s body to lay against him after helping move his sweatpants back up. “Whatever we want to call this…I want it. So much. I know it won’t be something I can tell my friends or family, and I really don’t care. I’ll I have to say is I’m taken, they don’t need to know anything else.” 

“Call it a long distance relationship,” Ahk joked, and kissed Aten’s forehead. 

“Sure,” Aten replied. “Separated by the morning.” 

Ahk nodded, and sighed as the alarm on Aten’s watch went off. “How does it go so fast? We were going to talk too…I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be. This is fun too, trust me. And we’ve got time. Larry mentioned everyone else here will ‘wake up’ again after the next week or so, but I don’t care. We’ll just lock the door, whether we’re doing anything like this or talking. Take advantage of whatever privacy we can get.” 

“I like that,” Ahk said, and stood right after Aten did. “Tomorrow night?” 

Aten winced. “I have a group project I have to meet up for. I tried to get out of it, but-” 

“No, none of that. Your studies are important. I’ll miss you, but it’ll make it all the sweeter seeing you again the night after next.” 

Aten sighed softly. “I guess. But I’d rather come see you.” 

Ahk pulled him close and kissed him as hard as he could, letting his fingers trail to the waistband of Aten’s jeans, slipping them just underneath for a moment. “There. Take that with you, and perhaps you’ll have as good of dreams of me as I had of you.” 

Aten kissed him in response before they finally walked back out to the hall and parted. Aten down the hall to the exit and entrance door Larry used, Ahk down the other towards his exhibit. He’d left his garb there, and trusted Larry would come in and grab the sweatshirt and pants to be hidden away again. 

But he stopped to turn back and watch Aten leave, only to see Aten had stopped to do the same. 

It left him feeling warm and wonderful, and he fought the urge to run back down the hall towards him for all of a moment before he did. 

Aten caught him with one strong arm, pulling him close for a kiss that left them both breathless, their foreheads touching after as he told himself he had to go. 

Finally, he broke away again, giddy as he watched Aten wave before heading out. 

“Good night?” Larry asked as he walked with Ahk to his exhibit. 

“Wonderful,” Ahk said. 

Larry smiled. “Good. And sorry about earlier, I wasn’t thinking and just wanted to check on you two, and…I should have knocked first.” 

“It’s alright,” Ahk replied as they entered his exhibit hall, walking past the statues to his sarcophagus. He changed quickly, handing his other clothes to Larry as he adjusted his royal garb. “We’ll lock the door from now on, especially if we’re…well.” 

“Sounds good,” Larry said. “Did he let you know, he can’t make it-” 

“Tomorrow night, I know. School project. I told him, his studies come first. I’ll get to see him the night after, at least.” 

“True. Well, sleep well,” Larry replied, and it was the last thing he heard as he laid back and fell into the deepest sleep again.

But the last taste on his lips was that of Aten, and that he could hang onto until the night after next, and that he trusted would bring him good dreams.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Went ahead and just uh…sort of created my own canon re: the tablet. Look, if the movie writers could do whatever they wanted with it, so can I lol. No rules, no right, just me doing whatever I want with canon. 
> 
> We get nsfw at the end because I couldn’t help myself lol.

He was bored. Horribly bored. It was silly, he knew that. After all, they’d only had two dates. To be so attached this much already was ridiculous, foolhardy.

Yet he lay on the couch in the employee lounge, doing nothing except feeling lonely and trying to get his sandals off his feet, using only his feet to kick and tug at them. 

Larry walked in, and sighed. “Important business, huh? You ever lose your hands, you’ll be set.” 

They shared a brief look, and Ahk broke.

“I miss him,” he grumbled. “And it isn’t his fault; he needs to keep up his studies, and I’m being childish and silly and stupid and-” 

“And you still miss him despite all that, and that’s okay,” Larry interrupted, lifting Ahk’s legs so he could sit on the end of the couch, letting Ahk’s legs sit on his lap. “It isn’t a bad thing. Just means you really like each other, and that’s what you wanted, right?” 

“It is,” Ahk replied. “But this is…fast. Too fast? I wouldn’t know, I’ve never had anything like this. Flings, sure, but nothing concrete. Nothing where we both wanted…” 

“More?” 

He nodded, and covered his face with his hands. “I don’t want to mess this up.” 

“You aren’t going to mess anything up,” Larry soothed. “You two have barely gotten started, so don’t go worrying about an end that you might not even have.” 

“I suppose you’d know,” Ahk said. “I mean, you’ve been in a…well.” 

“You mean my divorce? Yeah, that’s a sort of ending for a relationship. But a whole different level than where you two are. Don’t worry so much; you and…what have you been calling him? He told me, but I won’t want to get it wrong.” 

“Aten,” Ahk replied. “Because he warms me like the sun used to.” 

Larry smiled. “You really are falling hard, aren’t you?” 

“I am,” Ahk admitted softly, blushing as he pondered what Aten was up to with the group project. Was he tired, frustrated, stressed? “I’d rather learn to fly beside him though, instead of falling until I hit bottom, you know?” 

Larry nodded. “I get it. And I think you two will be just fine. Physically, at least, we know for sure you’re good together. I mean, I presume, from accidentally walking in, and-” 

“I’m so sorry about that,” Ahk said, blushing even more. “We really will start locking the door, I promise.” 

“It’s okay,” Larry laughed. “No harm done. And if you needed anyone else to have uh…proof that you two are getting along, well, I saw it. You have anything planned for tomorrow night with him? On the couch or off of it, I mean.” 

“Stop!” Ahk found himself giggling. Giggling! When had his afterlife ever held so much joy? It was wonderful. “A movie, maybe. I do want to get to know him, not just his body. I figure that might be an okay time to sit and relax, talk some.” 

“I can try and get you some movies,” Larry said. “Unless you both really want to watch the movie on whales playing in the theater here. But he likes classic older movies, I know that much, so if you want me to…” 

“You wouldn’t mind?” 

“Of course not. I’ll find some DVDs for you, make sure the player in here is up to snuff. Not sure it’s ever been used, if I’m honest,” Larry replied. “We’ll get it all set up, and you two can have a movie night for the next few nights. Sound good?” 

Ahk nodded. “Thank you, Larry. For all of this.” 

“Not a problem. I like helping you two out; you’re good, sweet kids.” 

“We’re both adults,” Ahk laughed. “We do act a bit like love-sick teenagers though, I suppose.” 

“If anyone has a right to moments like that, it’s you,” Larry said. “You deserve a chance to just relax, have fun with someone. I know you don’t really ever stop being royalty, but…some time off, maybe. Or time where you don’t have to think about it, or act like it. He knows and likes you for you, not the pharaoh he read about on your informational plaque.” 

He lifted Ahk’s legs and stood, setting them gently back on the couch. “I’ve got some other chores to look after, but I’ll try and check back in on you, okay? You good alone in here? Not gonna pine too much?” 

“No promises,” Ahk snickered, but inside his heart was heavy. How quickly he’d gotten used to Aten’s attention and presence, to something that was too new to be love, but tasted sweetly of it, and that he couldn’t get enough of. 

He was glad he hadn’t promised as the night progressed. He languished alone in the lounge, trying to think of anything other than Aten, his voice, his smile, his hands, his lips. 

Finally, he broke down and retrieved the pen and paper from his things in Larry’s locker. He hadn’t written love poetry as others his age had for their lovers, though he’d thought about it once or twice. He couldn’t match the beauty of the tablets displayed in the hall near his exhibit, bearing love poetry that took one’s breath away. 

But he had to try, or his heart would burst. And hopefully, Aten would be as kind and receptive to it as Ahk expected. 

He hid the final draft with him in his sarcophagus. He knew Larry wouldn’t judge him for it, but for now, it was for his and Aten’s eyes only.

***

He nearly fell out of his sarcophagus in his rush to leave it the next night. He was ready for it, to show Aten the poem, to have movie night with him, to sit and snuggle and talk. It was all terribly romantic, and he loved every bit of it.

But Larry was the only one that greeted him at the main desk. 

“It’s okay,” Larry reassured. “He’s just got a bad cold, and he was very worried you could somehow get sick, so he didn’t want to come in-” 

“I’ll go to him then,” Ahk interrupted. 

“Ah,” Larry mumbled. “You’d have to ch-” 

Before Larry could finish his sentence, Ahk dashed to the lounge, changing into his sweatshirt and pants at the speed of light, leaving his royal garb tossed on the couch.

He panted as he arrived back at the desk, feeling to ensure the poem was still safe in the bag of his things that he’d taken from Larry’s locker. He wasn’t sure he’d need any of it, but better safe than sorry. “I’m changed.” 

“So I see,” Larry laughed. “I told him I was sending over a surprise. He misses you too, so this will cheer him up. All he could talk about when he called me earlier, actually. He hated the idea of not making it in tonight. I doubt you can get sick though. Anyway, I called you a cab, and you’ll have to be back-” 

“I could spend the day with him,” Ahk interrupted. “There’s a…how to word it. A setting? On the tablet. Only I can change it, as the guardian of it. It leaves the magic…on? I don’t know how else to explain it, and I know it has something to do with running on the power of the moon and the sun then, but-” 

He waved a hand. “That doesn’t matter right now. What it means, is I could spend the night and day with him, and I promise to be careful and safe and-” 

“Slow down!” Larry held up his hands. “I’m not arguing! Though I am curious…you never wanted to change the setting ever before? To see what would happen if you left everyone alive all day?” I know it won’t affect everyone else now, but…” 

“I wanted to save it for emergencies,” Ahk replied. “And this is one!” 

“Okay,” Larry smiled. “Tell you what. You go change it, and I’ll get the DVDs I brought in your bag. I’m sure he’s got some way to play them. Go on, get it done!” 

He ran again, nearly sliding past the open door to his exhibit in his haste. The changing of it was easy enough. An incantation and the flip of a square on the tablet, and a moment later he could feel it was done as the tablet glowed briefly. He felt more energized, more alive. It was wonderful. 

Now, he had a boyfriend (or something close to one, since they hadn’t said that word yet) to go look after. 

He browsed the DVDs as he rode in the cab. The Clock, Funny Face, An American In Paris, The King and I…movies he knew, and had seen once or twice, but only while on display near the theaters in other museums, the times they had displays on famous films and plays. 

The selection only sort of mattered anyway, and Larry had done fine enough. Ideally, they’d be able to sit and talk while the movies played in the background, though he couldn’t fault Aten if he fell asleep. He remembered sickness like that, in a vague way, that left the body weary and weak. So long as they were together, he’d be happy. 

Aten’s apartment building was plain, but he remembered other students at other museums speaking of living in such conditions. When school was the priority, any roof (particularly a cheap one) would do. 

He used the buzzer in the front hall, and hoped Aten was still awake enough to hear it. 

“Larry?” Aten sounded utterly miserable.

“Not Larry,” Ahk replied, and smiled at the happy if tired laugh that answered him. 

“No way! Come on up…oh god, I’ll be dressed decent by the time you get up here, I promise.” 

“Decent or indecent, you’re perfect either way,” Ahk said before charging up the first two flights of stairs. By the third, he had slowed down. By the fourth, Aten’s floor, he was cursing the invention of stairs. 

He leaned against the door, trying to look like he didn’t feel horribly out of breath and exhausted from only four flights of stairs, and knocked. 

“Hey! Ah, the stairs got ya. Happens to everyone; they take getting used to,” Aten said as he ushered him in. 

“Do they punish you by not putting in an elevator? Are they unaware that the technology exists?” 

Aten laughed, then coughed hard. 

“Go sit,” Ahk instructed, setting his bag on the small table in between the kitchen and the living room (really just one room, though the table wasn’t a horrible line of demarcation.) “I’m here to take care of you.” 

“You might get-” 

“I don’t think I can get sick,” Ahk interrupted softly. “And even if I do, you can just return the favor later and take care of me.” 

“Deal,” Aten sighed as he flopped onto the couch, looking absolutely adorably cuddly in his own sweater and sweatpants. “Sorry I’m not great company tonight. I feel like shit. Do you have an ancient Egyptian cure for that?” 

“No, but Larry apparently bought you cough syrup,” he said, pulling a bottle out of the bag. He hadn’t seen Larry sneak it in, but it was certainly a sweet gesture. “That’s as close to a cure as you’ll get.” 

“You don’t know any magic cures for colds?” 

“Sorry, my love,” Ahk said as he brought the bottle and DVDs over to the coffee table by the couch, and sat by Aten. “Even we didn’t figure that out. Not with or without magic.” 

“Love?” Aten smiled.

The blush left him feeling overly warm, and he looked away. “Sorry, that’s-” 

“Really sweet, and just fine,” Aten interrupted, and grabbed his hand. “My DVD player is really out, and kind of shitty, but why don’t we throw something on and you can cuddle with me. I think that’s a cure for a cold, I read it somewhere.” 

“Did you now?” Ahk teased as he went to put a DVD on, grabbing one at random. “And where was that? What journal?” 

“Very highly respected one,” Aten replied with a grin. “Love-based medicine journal. I think you’d like it.” 

He sat at the DVD player for a moment more, and giggled. “Sounds reputable. You’ll have to read it to me sometime.” 

“To you?” 

“Sure. I can spend the days and nights here now, if I want, and I might need a bedtime story,” Ahk said as he moved back to the couch, the beginning of the movie flashing on the screen of Aten’s TV. “I mean, I said just tonight and tomorrow to Larry. But I think, even after the tablet is fixed, there’s a way for me to arrange it so the magic continuing into the day only affects me.” 

There was, and he knew it for sure, but that was his secret to hang onto for now. Larry might not go for it right away, and he wanted to give him time to warm up to it. 

“You…so there’s a way to use it so you can stay alive during the day too? You get to spend the night?” 

“If you’ll have me,” Ahk replied, wrapping an arm around him. “I don’t want to impose.” 

“No, not at all. I want you to stay,” Aten said, then sniffled. “Sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, you can’t help it. Relax, rest. You need it.” 

They sat for a bit then as the King and I played, Aten eventually laying so his head was in Ahk’s lap, and he could run his hands through that reddish-blonde hair, watch the light from the one small lamp hear them catch it. 

Aten sighed softly, and stretched carefully, not unlike a cat. 

“You like that?” 

He nodded. “You’re gonna put me to sleep if you keep playing with it like that though.” 

“You need the sleep,” Ahk replied. “I’ll be here when you wake up, don’t worry.” 

Aten buried his face in Ahk’s stomach and his heart leapt. It was so cute it hurt.

“This is way too early to say this, but-” 

“Why?” he interrupted. “Why is it too early?” 

Aten moved his face back, and looked up at him. “Because in other relationships, it was. I scared them off, I think. I don’t mean anything by it, like we don’t need to run to get married right now or anything, but I mean…okay, I do mean something by it, and that’s that I love you and I love that you seem to love me and I really hope we keep loving each other like this, even though I know nothing’s perfect all the time.” 

He took a breath, but Aten coughed and kept going. 

“And I know that means we might fight over stupid shit, or have days where we’re both too tired to do anything other than sit near each other, and I know that this has to be a certain way because of who you are and what you have to do, and I’m more than ready to do whatever I have to so that all works out. I’m ready to work to preserve something that feels like it’s gonna be so good, even better than it already is.” 

His breath was gone then, as he gently moved Aten up close to him and kissed him. Aten’s arms were around his neck, and he could feel how warm the sickness had made him. 

“Dizzy?” he smiled as he let Aten lay back.

“In a good way,” he replied. “I take it that meant…” 

“That I love you too, and whatever and however we make this work. If I had my way, I’d never switch the tablet back, and we’d do this right. Staying together, not having to worry about my getting back to the museum at any point.” 

His statement hung in the air for a moment as Aten’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit. That’s…for me? Really?” 

“Really,” Ahk said. “…you’re actually dizzy right now, aren’t you?” 

“Yeah,” he sighed, and closed his eyes. “But that’s just the cold or whatever this is fucking up my inner ear, not you, I promise.” 

“I know, don’t worry. Maybe I should put you to bed though. We could save the movies for another night.” 

“No, I’m good,” Aten said, his eyes still closed, and immediately yawned. “Ignore that, that’s uh…a weird cough.” 

“Sure it is,” Ahk said, and started to play with his hair again. 

By the time the movie was over, Aten was snoring softly in his lap, turned slightly on his side. He need to be in bed, properly, that much Ahk knew for sure. 

Moving him, however, was a less than easy task. He didn’t wake so much as opened and then promptly closed his eyes again as Ahk worked to sit him up, then to drag him off the couch and down the hall to the bedroom, passing the alarmingly small bathroom as they went. 

“You’re lucky you’re so cute, and I’m so strong,” Ahk teased as he attempted to drop Aten gently on his bed. 

“You are so strong,” Aten mumbled, half-muffled by the part of the comforter smashed against his face. “I love it. C’mere, I wanna feel your muscles. Lemme feel.” 

“You can do that tomorrow; you need sleep now,” Ahk said as he pondered if trying to move Aten so he was laying in the bed, not just flopped onto one side of it would be worth the trouble. He was at least on the bed, after all, and apparently comfortable enough. 

“Nah. Gotta feel ‘em, right now,” Aten rolled over, his eyes barely open as he reached his hands out for Ahk. 

“You’re too tired, it’s making you silly.” 

Aten grumbled something, and rolled back over, sighing into the comforter. 

He bit back a laugh. It was adorably pathetic, the poor thing. “Shall I help you actually get into the bed? I bet you’d be more comfortable than you are now.” 

“Eh.” 

“I’ll let you snuggle with me if you properly get in the bed.” 

Aten scrabbled forward and then up and over so he was finally at one of the pillows on the bed. “I did it.” 

“Yes, you did. I should go get you the medicine-” 

“No. Just want you,” Aten interrupted. “That’s good medicine.” 

“You and that love-based medicine journal. Dangerous reading, it seems,” Ahk joked as he lay down beside Aten. 

The way Aten immediately leaned over to kiss him, hard, then moving to lay on top of him was no joke however. It was good, the best, though he knew he needed to stop him. As much as they both might want it, what Aten really needed was rest. 

But he let it go for a few moments, finding it impossible to stop from moaning and whimpering under Aten’s kisses and touch. 

“Fuck,” he murmured after a particularly searing kiss, that left him grinding his hips as hard as he could against Aten’s. They were both hard, and he wanted desperately to get both of their clothes off, to be as close as possible. 

But that wasn’t what they should be doing, and he tried again to speak up, only for it to turn from a “I know you’re tired, why don’t we pick this up in the morning” to a “fuck, please don’t stop” as Aten moaned against his neck, bit down just so on his shoulder, whining and sighing as one of his hands moved to pull Ahk’s legs around him. 

Finally, he managed it. “Love…hang on.” 

Aten stopped immediately, eyes open wide. “I’m sorry; are you okay?” 

“I’m fine. But you aren’t. You’re sick, and you should be asleep right now. I can see you’ve got your second wind, but we can always finish this in the morning.” 

“But you’re close, aren’t you?” that was a wonderfully wicked smile that broke only to kiss him again as Aten’s hips moved against his. “So am I.” 

“This isn’t up for debate,” he tried to say, but it turned into a gasping sigh. “You…fucking hell. You really want to finish this, now?” 

Aten was wide awake now, he could tell that, those deep, dark gorgeous brown eyes looking into his in such a way he couldn’t break the connection of the gaze. 

“I want this. As much as I want all of it. To be with you all through tomorrow, to sit and talk and do whatever else we want. To keep seeing you whenever I can, to keep doing this whenever we both want to and can. As much as I want you, for you. The man behind the crown that plays with my hair and drags me into bed when I don’t feel well, that loves me.” 

The tears that fell were happy ones as he let himself rock against Aten again, kissing him softly, sweetly. They came within moments of each other, limbs intertwined, his legs pulling Aten as close as he could possibly be. 

“You…fuck, sorry, I….” he could hardly catch his breath as they calmed, hips still jerking every now and again against each other. “You need to sleep now.” 

“You’re right,” Aten sighed, and kissed him. “So do you. You get to sleep, actually sleep for once. You remember how?” 

“Funny,” Ahk smirked as he untangled himself from Aten, to try and find a towel to clean them up. But the bathroom only had room for the toilet, bath, and a medicine cabinet. “You don’t have towels?” 

“They’re in here. I don’t have anywhere else to put them, so they’re in my dresser.” 

Ahk came back into the bedroom, and frowned as he retrieved one from the third dresser drawer. “I don’t even want to know how much you pay for this little space.” 

“Man, even I don’t wanna know that. I try to forget about it until I have to pay it each month. I mean, I budget and shit so I’m never short, not yet at least, but at the same time…it’s nice pretending I don’t know that number,” Aten chuckled, and reached for the towel. 

“Let me,” Ahk swatted away his hand, moving the waistband of Aten’s sweatpants so he could clean him. “You sit there and rest.” 

“Tired of resting.” 

“You’ve been sick what, one day? And you’re sick of resting already?” he teased as he used the same towel to clean himself, enjoying the way Aten’s eyes trailed down as he slipped his sweatpants nearly off his hips. 

“Sick of being sick, sick of resting. And we should change, pants at least, or we’ll both feel gross in the morning. Fourth drawer has all my lazy clothes in it.” 

The hamper for towels was set right by the hamper for clothes, just before the door of the bedroom, and Ahk tossed the towel in before searching the drawer. 

“Oh…my darling,” he giggled as he pulled one of the few Ahkmenrah-branded items from the drawer. A pair of sweatpants bearing a tablet pattern, to be specific. “This is adorable.” 

“Hey, they said that money from the sale of those goes to maintaining your exhibit. I couldn’t not get them,” Aten replied. “And I bet you’d look cute in them.” 

He changed with a smirk while Aten watched, then tossed a pair of clean grey sweatpants over to him.

The dirty ones didn’t quite make it to the hamper, but neither of them cared. He actually felt tired, of all things, and it was all the more wonderful a feeling because it came with falling asleep beside Aten, in the dark of his tiny bedroom. 

He hadn’t even thought of tomorrow’s plans, and he didn’t want to. It might come too soon then, and before he knew it he’d have to be back at the museum. 

For now, it was just them, the dark, and the softness and warmth of the sheets and comforter, as he slept, truly slept, for the first time in thousands of years.


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based Ahk’s footwear in part of this off of these: https://www.ysl.com/us/shop-product/men/shoes-sandals-culver-sandals-in-smooth-leather_cod11808611cu.html#dept=men_nouveautes
> 
> Also, you may notice in this that I took some liberty with historical accuracy and also accuracy on things like metal-working. Normally, I’d have found a way to make it work, but also that version of things majorly ruined it here, if I’m honest. No one except a few people want to read like…the history of metal-working (me lmao.) So I sort of dipped over and around all that and made it work so we wouldn’t lose the plot as much, hopefully it worked out okay!

“I don’t miss this bit.” 

Aten laughed, then sniffled as they snuggled in bed, the sun trickling in through the small window of the bedroom. “Morning breath? Feeling groggy?” 

Ahk nodded, and cuddled closer into Aten’s shoulder. “Do we have to get up?” 

“Not yet. I’m skipping classes today since I still feel gross, so there’s no rush to be anywhere.” 

And that was perhaps the best thing he had heard in ages as he let Aten hold him close, until the sun hit his skin.

He couldn’t help it; it had been so long. He was out of bed like a shot, opening the blinds and letting the sun hit him fully. At some point, they’d both stripped out of their shirts, and the warmth on all that bare skin was overwhelming. 

He didn’t realize that he’d dropped to his knees, or that he was crying until he felt Aten’s arms around him, pulling him up and holding him tight. 

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay. Larry told me about the tablet, what can happen, but you said you have it switched so you’re safe, remember? And you are, you’re just fine.” 

“I know,” he couldn’t fight back the sobs. “But I had forgotten. It’s so warm, so bright. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until now.” 

Aten led him into the living room, where he pulled aside the other set of blinds so the room was flooded with sunlight, and he lost himself for a good few minutes. 

He thought only of the opera then, of Akhenaten, who had raised ire in his monotheistic worship of the sun, and while he couldn’t necessarily justify all that had happened during the other pharaoh’s reign, he could in that moment understand the elation, the joy of it, could see why the Aten had captured him so strongly. 

Especially because as he found himself at the window, on his knees, bent over so his head was at the floor, in a worshiping position he hadn’t taken for literally thousands of years, the Aten warming his living skin, his Aten was beside him in a similar pose. 

He knew it was incredibly unlikely that his Aten followed anything like the religion his people had in the past, but that he would join him, would try, would sit in the moment of ecstasy and happiness with him, made him weep with joy even harder. 

It was at least a half hour, even after he’d sat back up, Aten again pulling him close, before he was back to himself again, able to speak. 

“Thank you. You didn’t have to, and I can’t imagine the sun made you feel better, ah, you should be in bed sleeping still-” 

“I’m all good,” Aten said softly. “I should thank you. That was…I don’t know how to describe it, it felt powerful and cleansing and I’ve never…I’m not a religious guy, but that was…I just feel really good right now, and kind of emotional and…yeah.” 

The ringing of Aten’s phone interrupted their smiles and giggles, and he was reluctant to let Aten go to answer it. 

“We gotta go,” Aten said. “C’mon. Uh…shoot. We should really shower, but I told Larry we’d be right over…fuck.” 

“What?” 

“I guess he sent a photo of the tablet to the restoration dude? And he’s freaking out because he doesn’t think he can fix it without possibly making it worse or breaking another part of it, so Larry is freaking out and he’s thinking you’ll freak out, and now I’m freaking out and-” 

“Okay, just…stop using that phrase for a moment,” Ahk soothed. 

“I’m sorry, I’m frea-” 

“I know, it’s okay,” Ahk said, interrupting Aten before he could wind up again. “This isn’t great news but..I’ve had this idea. In my head since we met, and I think it could work. But you’re right, we’ll need to be with the tablet, with Larry to help us. I’ll also need some tools and gold…I can melt down some of the other artifacts probably, they’re basically mine at this point…” 

“Ahk!” 

“What? They are, and do you know how much is in storage at the museum? They won’t notice it missing, and it should be in a museum back in my home anyway, but I digress,” Ahk tutted. “We reused things all the time back at home, if we needed the raw materials for something else.” 

“I…that’s a fair point. It kind of goes against everything I’ve been learning, to destroy an artifact,” Aten sighed. 

“I know. But I’m going to use it all to make a new one, and fix the tablet. And the new one will be for us only. Text Larry, tell him we’re going to get cleaned up and ready, then we’ll be over. Tell him to have a coffee or something, get breakfast and stop freaking out.” 

Aten nodded before dashing off to the shower, then immediately coming back out of it. “Water won’t work.” 

“Sorry?” 

He shrugged. “There’s no water! I’ll have to call my landlord…” 

“If this works,” Ahk said gently. “Then we are moving somewhere nicer. I’ll figure it out, we just are.” 

“What do you have…” 

“Go get dressed,” Ahk instructed with a smile. “I’ll just stay in this, since I don’t really have anything else.” 

“My closet is open,” Aten said, then sniffled, and Ahk felt bad making him leave when he still wasn’t feeling well. 

“You surprise me then. Grab me something too, and I’ll wear it. I trust your judgement.” 

He sat with the pen and paper from his bag as Aten dashed off again to the bedroom, and started his work. He was far from an expert in this, and it had to be done just right, just so. 

But he was feeling confident. If this worked, they would both benefit, even if their relationship ever ended. 

***

At the museum, Larry was a wreck, standing in front of Ahk’s exhibit, where a ‘under construction’ sign had been placed. 

“What took you so long?” 

“We had to get dressed,” Ahk said, and watched as Larry’s eyes widened and took in the sight in front of him. 

Aten, as it turned out, had a variety of nice things hidden in his closet that he wore when he wasn’t in class or sitting at home, and while some of it was baggy on Ahk, it was better than walking around in sweats 24/7. 

A loose soft black tank top, with a white linen shirt unbuttoned over it and acid-washed skinny jeans that were tight enough he’d struggled to get them on even with Aten’s help, plus a pair of sandals that Aten had told him he certainly didn’t have to wear, there was a reason they’d stayed at the back of his closet for so long. But Ahk liked them. They were gaudy and plain brown leather with an odd set of straps, and utterly unlike anything he’d worn before, and now he found he didn’t want to take them off. 

“You…certainly did. But we’ve gotta figure this out, now, because I can’t keep the rest of the staff off of your exhibit for much longer, and the restoration expert wants me to like, quarantine your exhibit and I really need to sleep and-” 

“Breathe. I’ve got an idea. But I do need your help, and then I promise after we’ve fixed this you can go home and sleep,” Ahk interrupted, placing a hand on Larry’s shoulder. “Go get the tablet. I’m going to sneak into the back storage and get some of the artifacts I know won’t be missed.” 

Larry stared at him blankly. “Why?” 

“You’ll see later. And then Aten here is going to see if his college has access to the tools I need, and I believe it does?” 

Aten nodded, then shook his head. “Like…like a forge? I don’t know if…no, mine doesn’t, but I think Buffalo State does, or they offer something to do with metal working? But that’s six hours away.” 

“Road trip it is, then!” Ahk smiled, and left them to it as he wandered down the halls towards the storage area. 

Luckily, it was empty of any other staff as he strode through the Egyptology section, taking whatever smaller and insignificant trinkets he could find, offering up a silent prayer and thanks to wherever the object’s owner was in the afterlife for letting him use it. He didn’t need a lot, just enough to execute his plan and fix the original tablet. 

Even so, the clinking of the artifacts in the backpack borrowed from Aten was loud as he joined Aten and Larry outside of the museum. 

“Why…why is the tablet in a plastic bag?” 

“I couldn’t find anything else!” Larry fussed. “We gotta go, before they notice-” 

“They won’t, it’s fine,” Aten said. “I sort of…wrote a note. As if it was from the restoration expert. They probably don’t remember what his handwriting looks like, right?” 

“What did you say in it?” Ahk asked, smiling at Aten’s blushing. 

“That we took it to be fixed elsewhere because we needed special tools, but that it would be returned as soon as possible, and also that he came back just for this because of his dedication to your exhibit. So, as long as nobody calls him and finds out he’s still not in the city, it’ll be fine.” 

Larry sighed miserably. “This is not fine. This was the game plan?!”

“It’s all going to be fine. Just…don’t drop that,” Ahk said, carefully watching the strain of the tablet’s weight in the bag. “Maybe hold it just…normally. Not with the handles?” 

Larry looked down at the bag and nodded. “Right. Now, we do have better news than us trying to drive six hours away.” 

“One of my friends on the way out of town does metal-working, he said we can borrow his stuff,” Aten said cheerfully. “I know it isn’t like, top grade, but the other option is that we sneak onto a campus…six hours away…” 

“That’s fair,” Ahk said. “I’m not “top grade” either, when it comes to this. If my father knew I’d learned anything of metal work of any sort…” 

“You could have learned how to weave and pissed him and like, literally everyone else off too,” Aten replied. 

Ahk smiled softly. “I did, but only my mother knew about that.” 

He laughed as Aten held his hand up for a high five, while Larry cocked his head like a confused dog. 

“Is this some…academic joke, thing? It is, isn’t it? Ya know, just because I haven’t had time to read all those plaques in there, and the pamphlets, and whatever-” 

“Larry, it’s fine. In my time, weaving was usually restricted to women, and things like metal-working to those not living in a palace. That’s all,” Ahk interrupted his rant before it could start. “We should get going. You need sleep.” 

Larry simply nodded, and they piled into the cab that had pulled up near them, honking incessantly, that Ahk figured Aten and Larry must have called.

It was a shorter ride than he’d expected to the home of Aten’s friend, who didn’t question anything of what they were doing, somehow. He simply smiled, led them to his equipment in his garage and showed the rest in the backyard, and left them to it. 

“You two go rest; you both need it,” he instructed, taking the tablet from Larry as he took in the equipment. It was more modern than what he was used to, not by much (the craft could only change so much, after all), but enough that he was slightly nervous he might fail. 

But he couldn’t. 

And as Larry and Aten left him to rest on the backyard furniture, he convinced himself he wouldn’t. 

Even as it felt dicey, melting down the other artifacts and working to repair the tablet, his linen shirt tossed aside away from the work area, his tank top tucked into his jeans so he might not somehow manage to set himself on fire (he counted out not a single horrible possibility; it had been so long since he’d done it all.) Even as he worked to create the other two new artifacts, mini-tablets, sized just right to be worn as a necklace. One for him, and one for Aten. 

It took the day, and by the end of it all he was a messy; sweaty and tired and half afraid he’d somehow messed up, and he wasn’t even really done yet. 

“Larry,” he called as he brought the tablet back over. “Be careful with it. It’s hardened, but…just be careful with it for the next few hours to be safe.” 

Larry, with his mouth open, drool falling from it, didn’t stir. Nor did Aten, in a similar pose. It was almost artful, the way they mirrored each other in lounging and snoring volume, but Ahk was too tired to appreciate it for more than a moment.

“Okay. That’s fine, I’ll tell you later,” he sighed, gently setting the tablet on the small open part of the concrete slab the furniture was on, so it might not be disturbed, putting the two mini tablets beside it. 

As he dropped near the concrete slab into the grass, he heard a laugh. 

“All done?” 

Aten’s friend was leaned out of the back sliding door of the house, and shook his head at the scene. “They passed out literally before you were even a foot away, you know that right? I knew Tristan was sick, but what about that one?” 

Ahk looked to Larry and chuckled. “Night shift.” 

The friend nodded, and strode out to join him on the grass. “I used to do that. No wonder he’s whipped, if he came straight here.” 

“He did. Larry’s a good friend,” Ahk said softly. He’d really only ended up needing Larry along to transport the tablet, and he felt a bit bad now, having dragged him with when he was clearly exhausted. “So is Aten. A good…” 

“Boyfriend? He is, but he’s always had shit taste in men,” the friend laughed. “Except for now.” 

“I pass your test then,” Ahk said. “Good to hear,….” 

“Owen. And yeah, thus far, you have. He absolutely raves about you, man. I mean, look. I was married once, before I went back to school, and met Tris-Aten. And even at our most in love, I can’t think of a time I raved about my husband like that. I know you two haven’t been together long, but…I think it’s a good sign. He finally found someone good for him.” 

Ahk nodded. “And I for myself. I certainly hope he’ll find what I’ve done good for him.” 

Owen raised an eyebrow, and gestured to the tablets. “Larry and Aten told me a little bit of what was going on, some wild shit. Presuming they weren’t fucking with me about the magic stuff-” 

“All true,” Ahk said. “And the smaller two there? After I can perform the right spell in the moonlight tonight, and then one tomorrow in the morning, they’ll be just as much magic, and grant Aten and I the ultimate gift.” 

“…the big tablet brings you to life, and is what keeps you alive,” Owen said slowly. 

Ahk nodded. 

“So the little ones are gonna…no fucking way.” 

“Fucking way,” Ahk smiled. “It can be changed, of course, if a certain small square on the tablet is turned. If either of us would tire of living. But I can’t imagine I ever will, so long as I’m with him. I just hope he feels the same.” 

Owen’s gaze was soft, gentle as he chuckled. “I’m pretty positive he does. Doesn’t mean there won’t be ups and downs, I’ll tell you that now. Nothing is ever that easy. But if you’re for real, and you guys have all of time to like, talk shit out and work out arguments and all that…then I think you’ll have a fantastic time together, while the rest of us are long gone and rotting.” 

“You’re much too poetic to be an archaeology major,” Ahk smirked.

“Not sure if that’s a compliment or a dig, or both, but thanks,” Owen laughed. “And I’m not, actually. English major who needs more credits, got offered the chance to take some lower and mid-level courses in other program areas, and suddenly there I am watching a bunch of guys like Aten freak out over bones and junk. You gotta come to class one day and watch him, it’s the dorkiest shit, but the best.” 

“I’d like that,” Ahk said, and meant every bit of it. The idea of getting to watch Aten in his element, learning and sharing knowledge and being adorable the whole time, was a beautiful one. 

“I’m gonna drag these guys inside, if you wanna help,” Owen said, and gestured to the still-snoring pair nearly falling off of the lawn furniture. “Then you can do your thing out here once the moon comes out, and come bed down yourself. You guys are welcome to stay into tomorrow too; this was always too much house for me, so someone has to enjoy all the space.” 

He let Owen literally tackle Larry, who seemed as reluctant to move or wake as Ahk figured possible. 

Aten wasn’t much different, even when Ahk pressed soft kisses to his neck. 

“Hm? You done already? That was fast,” Aten slurred as he rubbed at his eyes. 

“Darling, it’s nearly nine at night,” Ahk whispered. “Come on. Owen has offered us shelter for the night and into tomorrow, and you need an actual bed.” 

“You gonna be in it?” 

“Later, sure. I’ve got one last thing to do to the tablets, then I’ll be in,” Ahk smiled. 

“Tablets?” 

His breath froze in his throat. He’d hoped Aten would be tired enough to not ask about it until the next day. 

“Yes. I fixed the original, and with the rest of the gold, I-just come look.” 

He led Aten to the tablets, and put the one bearing his name, both his legal name and nickname, into Aten’s hand. 

“For me? This is cool,” Aten said as he turned it around in his hands, examining the delicate and careful hieroglyphs Ahk had painstakingly inscribed into the gold. “Wait, lemme test out my language skills here. No laughing if I get it wrong! Okay, so…oh, there’s my name! And my nickname, neat. And…” 

Aten’s eyes bulged, and Ahk swore his heart had ceased beating yet again.

“Immortality. If I’ve got this right, and please tell me right now if I don’t, I turn this little panel in the upper left, and the same sort of magic that keeps you alive in the day and night, will make me…” 

Ahk nodded. “I know, this is perhaps the most forward and way too forward of a thing to do. But…even if we’d ever part ways, I’d want you to have it. To have the option, the choice. No one else has this, except for me, and I-I don’t want it to be that way. I want to share it, with someone I want to share everything with.” 

Aten’s eyes were still wide. 

“Please don’t be mad,” he found himself whispering.

“Mad?” Aten scoffed. “Are you kidding? This is…holy shit! This is the coolest, and that isn’t even scratching the surface. It’s amazing! I mean, look, I’ve had past boyfriends try and find cool shit to get me, but no one ever hand made me something that could make me immortal. Like, the bar was never that high of course, because none of them could do that, but…I love it. I love you. I think I’m gonna cry.” 

He already was as he hugged Ahk, who found himself crying too. “Oh thank goodness. I was terrified you might be upset, or not like it, or something. I still have to finish the spells on them, but after that, they’ll be ready to go. I had to alter the original just a bit too, in order for mine to work.” 

“How so?” 

Ahk sighed. “Well. I have it written on the original now that the magic will only apply to the inhabitants of the museum from tomorrow forward. It ends for myself an hour or so after the sun is fully risen tomorrow, then the magic from my new little tablet here takes over; which is why I have to stay up and get these two ready.” 

“I’ll stay up with you,” Aten said through a yawn. 

Ahk took the tablet from him and left both of them by the big one on the ground as he led Aten towards the house. “No, you’re going to sleep. You need it.” 

“It isn’t fair, that you should have to stay up late on one of the first nights you actually get to sleep,” Aten protested. “Let me stay up with you.” 

“Tell you what,” Ahk said as they walked quietly through the house, past Larry draped on the living room couch, and passed a closed bedroom door where he figured Owen was. A sign, handwritten and taped on the wall, directed them to the guest room. “You can make it up to me in a few days when you’re well again, and can keep me up all night long, just you and me.” 

Aten smiled and sighed as he sat on the bed in the guest room. “You can’t tease me with that and just go.” 

“Have to, my love. The night is clear, and I need the moon for this to work, and I can’t keep her waiting,” Ahk said. “Rest easy; you get to watch me walk away. It’ll give you good dreams.” 

“Cheeky,” Aten giggled, and Ahk carried the sound with him as he went back outside, fetching his linen shirt from where he’d forgotten it in the garage and closing the garage door before heading to the tablets.

This bit, at least, was easy. The words came quickly, and he could feel the magic surge as he worked, the moonlight soft on his skin. He was no priest, nothing like the men who’d worked on the original tablet, but he got the sense the gods weren’t so picky anymore. The world had changed, and so had worship, and any tie to what had been before was grabbed tightly. It was a nice, if somewhat odd feeling, a shock of power and pure emotions leaving him a bit shaken as he finished the spells on all three tablets; new spells for the new two, and an update to the original. 

He sat in the moonlight then, willing himself to stay awake even as his eyes screamed for sleep. It was almost a good feeling, to be tired, to actually need sleep. At the same time, it was a battle he couldn’t lose, he reminded himself as he lay back on one of the lawn lounge chairs. 

He could just rest his eyes for a moment, nothing more.

Just a moment.


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This short piece is the end of this particular story, but not this pairing! I’ve got more planned for Ahk and Aten, and in the meantime if anyone has requests for this pairing please send them my way!

His dream was warm and sweet. Him and Aten, on a boat, floating slowly down the Nile while the sun beat down. The boat rocking ever so gently.

Then harder.

Then even harder, water sloshing over the side, yet he could see nothing making it rock, no hippo or crocodile or other creature and-

“AHKMENRAH!” Aten’s face was right in his, hands shaking him at the shoulders. “We’ve got like…maybe ten minutes. You gotta get up, I can’t…I don’t know what spell we need to finish this, but Owen said you talked about two spells, one at night and one now, and the sun has nearly been up for an hour and I am so glad I set an alarm, I almost didn’t, you know, and babe-” 

Ahk gently pushed Aten away as he sat up and yawned, then stood and stumbled to the tablets. Reciting the spells felt like the hardest work then, still feeling so asleep, but he felt the magic surge, and as the next hour began and he remained alive, he knew it all had worked. 

“Thank you for waking me. I’m sorry you had to, I shouldn’t have fallen asleep,” he said as he handed Aten his mini tablet, putting his own into the tight pocket of his jeans. “I was only going to rest my eyes…” 

“You’ve got drool, on your mouth there,” Aten snickered as he looked at his tablet. “But whatever you say.” 

He wrapped Aten in a hug as they stood in the early morning light, only moving apart at the sound of footsteps.

Larry and Owen were at the back door, looking just as groggy. 

“You guys all good? All living and immortal and stuff?” Owen asked with a tired smile. 

“Almost,” Ahk said, and pulled his mini tablet from his pocket, then flipped the square on it that was, if he were to put it mechanically, the immortality switch. Watching Aten do the same on his made his heart leap, but he restrained himself and settled for holding Aten’s hand tight as they went into the house, the original tablet tucked under his other arm. 

Larry took the original tablet with a nod, and sighed. “Owen and Aten here explained what you did.” 

He met Larry’s gaze in a guarded way, ready to look away at the first sign of anger.

“We’re really gonna miss you,” Larry said. “I mean, I hope you’ll come back and visit, of course, but, well, you’ve got a whole other life to live now! Can’t blame you if we don’t see you for awhile.” 

“As it happens,” Ahk said. “I’ll need to start paying my share of the rent, so I’ll need somewhere to work. And you could probably use an assistant guard, to help you and maybe take over if you ever should choose to leave for a different job.” 

“I’m not going to make you pay rent right now,” Aten said. 

“We’re getting a nicer place than the shoe box you live in right now, love, and when we do we’ll split the rent on it,” Ahk replied. 

Larry nodded. “You know? I think I could use an assistant guard. Who could maybe come in every now and again, and every now and again on the ‘Living Museum’ Nights…”pretend” to be the mummy in the sarcophagus that I’m going to have to glue shut as soon as we get back?” 

Ahk laughed at the thought of it, Larry armed with a tube of super glue approaching his sarcophagus. “The royal garb is in my size, so I think I could add that to my job duties.” 

“Are you really gonna glue it shut?” Aten laughed.

“How else can I explain a missing mummy?” Larry shrugged. “Honestly, the restoration expert is going to be all over the whole exhibit, but by the time he gets to the sarcophagus…maybe the paperwork that states it came with a mummy will be missing.” 

“You really think they’ll have forgotten?” Ahk asked and pondered. He honestly wasn’t sure how many of the staff were aware of what all his exhibit contained. 

“I think we can pull it off. We’ll have to,” Larry replied. “I’m not worried about it. They’ve got a lot of stuff to keep track of, so I think we can slip this under the radar.” 

Under the radar was a strangely good way to explain how he felt, as they sat at Owen’s table, a breakfast of toast and eggs in front of them. There was no deadline now, to get back to the museum. No need to go back until his shift, and that itself was so utterly normal it made him smile. He had a night job, with a regular shift, and a coworker in the form of Larry, and a boyfriend and an apartment. Just like anyone else, nothing out of the ordinary about it. 

Aside from his still being thousands of years old, of course. But he’d worry about that if and when it came up as an issue. 

Now, there was only a routine to settle into, and it left him too excited to rest on the cab ride back home, even as Aten slumped asleep against him, and Larry asleep against Aten. He would get to set an alarm for later that night, and Larry would find him a uniform, and he’d get to set up his things (what little he had) in Aten’s apartment. And apartment shopping! They could go on the weekend, maybe, if Aten was feeling up to it. 

He certainly hoped he would. He was more than ready to start his new life, in this new version of the world, with the man he loved. 

And to get him out of the absolute tiny box he currently lived in. His man deserved better than that. 

***

**Three Months Later**

“You look good!” 

“Yeah?” Ahk peered down at the royal garb. It had been months since he’d worn it, and he’d been mildly worried even the few months of regular meals (consisting probably more often than it should of fast food and take out, though the way he saw it he was making up for lost time) would have presented a fit problem. 

“Nah, you look perfect. Like you haven’t been gone a day!” Larry continued. “I mean, you haven’t, really. But this is Ahkmenrah now, not Adnan.” 

He smiled at the mention of his ‘modern’ name, as they had taken to calling it. He’d needed something to put on his forged birth certificate and the various other documents he needed to become a museum employee as Larry’s co-night guard, and it was Aten who had researched some to find the name for him. Arabic, meaning ‘settler.’ 

“Think you remember how to be all…royal? I mean, not that you stopped being royalty, but, you know what I mean.” 

“He does,” Aten walked out from the staff lounge. “He’s the pharaoh of my heart.” 

Ahk couldn’t help but squeal at the sight of him. “You look amazing.” 

His costume was admittedly not the most accurate, but it was absolutely adorable. A mix between some sort of wildlife explorer and a historian, with khaki pants and boots and a cardigan that was wonderfully ugly. 

“Thanks. Think the kids will find me a good Egyptology expert? I mean I definitely look like I teach sixth graders in this. Except for the boots, maybe.” 

“No, the boots fit too. Kids are wild,” Larry said. “And before you know it, you will be an expert, already are basically. That graduation ceremony is closing in…” 

“Oh god, don’t remind me. I really gotta study again, as soon as we get home-” 

“Relax,” Ahk interrupted him with a sigh and a kiss, wrapping his arms around Aten. “You don’t even have any tests until next week. Take advantage of the extra time to have fun, chill, maybe even sleep for more than three hours at a time.” 

“Hard to sleep when you keep me up all night,” Aten smirked and kissed him back, lips lingering into another kiss, then another, in between quickly stolen breaths. 

“Guys,” Larry cleared his throat. “We open in five minutes for the Living Museum.” 

“Apologies,” Ahk forced himself to untangle from Aten’s arms. “We’ll behave.” 

“Just for a few hours,” Larry laughed, then held up and jingled his set of keys towards the front doors. “You both ready?” 

Aten’s hand was warm in his, the light glinting off of their mini tablets, worn on black cords around their necks. 

He nodded. 

They were ready. For the night, and for everything that was going to come after it. 

And he couldn’t wait.


End file.
